My daughter Madeline has a new set of Lost Art Press stickers up for sale in her etsy store. A set is $7. The stickers feature three new designs – two of them drawn by my daughter, Katherine.
Here are the details:
Lost Art Pets: Now that we’ve moved to our new place in Covington, Ky., the cats are frequent visitors to the bench room. Especially Bean, a three-legged cat who has become the WalMart greeter of our store. And also would like to smell your hair. Katherine drew Bean with dividers as a replacement leg.
Anarch-Bee: Katherine drew this new anarchist bee logo for a new wax product we are working on (more details soon). We love bees, which commonly symbolized woodworkers in pre-industrial illustrations. And we use beeswax all the time.
Carpal Tunnel Saw Company: The logo of one of our sponsors. Great saws – just remember to take your anti-inflammatories before using them.
The stickers are high quality – 100-percent vinyl and suitable for outdoor use. And the proceeds from the sticker sales help support Madeline as she embarks on getting her doctorate degree at the University of Pittsburgh.
We’re busy getting ready for the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event (as evidenced by Christopher Schwarz’s full-on cleaning and organizational mode…he even made me dust and arrange the bourbon bottles yesterday). The event is Friday, Sept. 20 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m and Saturday, Sept. 21 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Lie-Nielsen will have its full line of tools here for you to try out – and you are heartily encouraged to actually use them – plus the company offers free shipping for event orders.
Lost Art Press will, of course, have the full line of books and Crucible tools on hand for perusal and purchase – but perhaps most exciting is the drawing for a free copy of the deluxe “Roubo on Furniture.” Measuring 12-1/4″ wide x 17-1/4″ tall by almost 2-1/4″ thick, “Roubo on Furniture” is the largest and most luxurious book LAP has printed. No purchase necessary – just write your name on a provided slip of paper, drop it in the hopper, and you’re entered. We’ll draw the winning name on Saturday at 4:45 p.m. – you need not be present to win. If the winner is local, I’ll drop your book off; if not, we’ll ship it.
‘Roubo on Furniture,’ cat for scale.
Chris, Brendan Gaffney and I are happy to give shop tours, answer questions about woodworking, demonstrate techniques and more. And I’ll have some copies of The Chronicle, the journal of the Early American Industries Association, to give away.
Andy Glenn joins us from the Berea, Ky., Woodworking School at Pine Croft – which you might recognize by its former name, the Kelly Mehler School of Woodworking. Berea College is continuing the fine tradition set by Kelly, with engaging workshops that use both traditional and contemporary methods (and in a gorgeous setting and shop, to boot). The school will soon be announcing workshops and guest instructors for the upcoming year.
At 2 p.m. on Friday, Andy will demonstrate how to weave a hickory bark seat, and at 2 p.m. on Saturday, he’ll give a chisel-sharpening demo – plus assorted benchwork throughout the event.
Donna Hill and Bob Compton from the Ohio Valley chapter of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers (SAPFM) will be on hand with examples of their stunning work. Throughout the event, Donna will be demonstrating stringing and inlay – a decorative technique that can be applied to both period and contemporary work. For those who don’t already know, SAPFM is a membership organization dedicated to the understanding, education and appreciation of American period furniture.
Mark Hicks is traveling from his Missouri shop with his small (but mighty) show bench, as well as an in-progress cherry shavehorse featuring the new Galbert Adjuster and a lower platform suitable for those with shorter torsos. He’ll also have a pile of Shavehorse Builder’s Kits, T-shirts and stickers. Plus, Mark will let you know about his workbench-building classes (and perhaps a few surprises).
The Deckle Edge, “a blog about books, libraries, books stores, and the ideas they contain,” recently posted a detailed review of Marc Adams’ new book, “The Difference Makers.”
In his review, Matthew Boutte, a Texas-based finance executive who is “a lover of many things, among them books,” writes: “As I step back and review ‘The Difference Makers’ as a cohesive work, rather than 30 individual profiles, two distinct themes emerge. The first of them is that of craftsmanship and how it is defined.”
Boutte shares some quotes from some featured makers as well as his own thoughts on craftsmanship, including this idea: “Craftsmanship then, is the relentless pursuit of excellence; the best you are able to do.”
Boutte then writes: “The second theme relates to the first: ‘The Difference Makers’ clearly illustrates that these people were driven to pursue excellence, to pursue craftsmanship, by something internal that would not be quenched and in virtually every case, resulted in years of economic hardship or the willingness to allow their art to be their passion while some other pursuit provided shelter and food.”
Boutte’s review is interesting in that while so much of the focus on this book has been on individual makers, he takes the time to point out some connecting threads – the themes that run true for many of those featured. Consider his observations about the number of makers featured who are left-handed compared to right.
You can read the entire piece here and be sure to check out Boutte’s other thoughtful reviews as well.
Oh, and Matthew, in answer to your question (“Embossed on the cover. What’s the story here?!?”), the diestamp on the interior cloth cover is a Tree of Life image that dovetails Marc’s preface and introduction. Thank you for finding it and noticing it, and thank you for the kind review!
Good luck finding steel hinges for this project that have the right look and bend in the right place to fit in the partition. I was unsuccessful in finding some off-the-rack hinges to make this part easy. But altering your hinges to fit is easy work – the barrier for most woodworkers is that hinges are made of metal and that can sap your confidence.
Don’t let it. There are lots of cool steel strap hinges out there that are sold with straight-as-an-arrow leaves. Bending them is simple work with just a metal-jawed vise and a hammer. If you still have some trepidation, purchase an extra hinge to practice on.
These hinges are placed using the same rules for placing the crossstrengtheners on the Packing Box. First calculate the overall length of the box. Position the hinges so their centerlines are half this distance apart.
Install the hinge with a single screw. Then mark where the leaf intersects the case. Make this mark underneath the leaf.
The hinges are recessed into the top edge and face of the back of the Schoolbox. First, cut away the notch on the top edge of the box for the hinges. Install the unbent hinges into the mortise using the screw hole that is nearest to the hinge pin. Then mark where you want to bend the leaf. Mark your bending line underneath the hinge, right up against the back of the box. Remember: It’s not like folding paper. You need to allow for the thickness of the leaf when bending.
Secure the leaf in a metal-jawed vise so that the leaf you want to bend sticks up from the vise. Clamp the jaws right below the line you marked. Use a hammer to tap the leaf to shape. You want to bend the leaf so that the leaf needs to be recessed into the back.
Clamp the leaf and tap it with a hammer to bend it to a 90° angle. If all goes to plan the leaf should fit against the inside of the Schoolbox. Trace around it, mortise it flush and the hinge should then line up with your original screw hole.
Hold the hinge in its mortise again. Then trace around the hinge to mortise the hinge flush to the inside of the case (this will allow the partition to be removed). Waste away the area where the leaf should go.
Screw the hinges to the carcase of the Schoolbox and get ready to attach the lid. The lid should be slightly oversized because things might shift around during installation. Plus you never know how the slop in the hinge barrels will affect how the top fits.
Set the Schoolbox on its back and elevate it on some spacers. Position the lid on the benchtop and let the hinges fall onto the lid. Drive one screw into each hinge and see how things work.
Once the lid is positioned where you want it, let the lid fall onto the workbench and drive the remainder of the screws. Now you can trim the lid so there’s about 1/16″ of overhang all around. That should be enough for most environments. If you live in an area with wild humidity swings, give yourself 1/8″ of overhang on the front.
Line up the lid as best you can and then attach the hinges to the lid using one screw in each leaf. Note how the Schoolbox is elevated on shims that make the leaves fall without any gaps between the leaves and the lid.
Now you can fix the lock’s hasp into the lid. This is a Friday job (meaning it’s easy). Lock the hasp onto the lockset. Then drop the lid onto the hasp. The hasp has two nibs on it. Strike the lid right where the hasp is. This dents the lid right where these two nibs are.
Unlock the hasp, nestle it into the nibs and trace around the hasp. By this point you should know the drill: Score the waste with a chisel. Remove it with a router plane or a chisel. Then screw the hasp to the underside of the lid.
As far as woodworking goes, you’re almost done. All that is left is to install the moulding around the lid. This moulding receives a chamfer or a bevel that is identical to the one you planed onto the skirt moulding.
Shut the lid and feel all around the edges to see if the lid is squarely on the box. If it’s not, you can shift things around a bit at this point to improve the position of the lid. The two screws allow some pivoting. Do this carefully.
You also can cut the moulding and miter it just like you did the skirt moulding. However, there is one small difference when installing the lid moulding. You have some cross-grain problems that you didn’t have with the skirt moulding. The lid’s return moulding has its grain running at 90° to the grain of the lid.
Here’s how you deal with it: Glue and nail the front piece of moulding just like you did on the front piece of skirt moulding. When you install the returns, glue the miters in the same way you glued the miters for the skirt moulding. But when you glue the back of the lid moulding to the lid, glue only the first few inches up by the miter. Leave the rest of the moulding dry.
Nail the entire moulding, however. Nail through each miter and into the lid. The glue at the front will keep the miter tight. The nails at the unglued area at the back will allow the lid to move without things splitting or blowing apart. Well, that’s the plan at least. And it’s a good plan if you used Eastern white pine for this project. It moves little in service. If, however, you used flat-sawn red oak for your Schoolbox, then keep your fingers crossed.
